1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for production of fiber-composite structural elements.
2. Discussion of the Background
The use of fiber-composite structural elements is interesting for many areas of application, in particular because of their high specific strength (ratio of strength to weight). A fiber-composite material is a mixed material that is generally composed of two main components, namely a matrix and fibers embedded therein. Mutual interactions of these components endow the material with higher-performance characteristics than those of the two individual components involved.
In particular, the present invention relates to the production of highly stressed profile sections having more or less complicated geometry. According to prior art based on internal industrial know-how of the Applicant, carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic profile sections, for example, are mostly produced at present either in prepreg technology or by draping semifinished textile products (woven and nonwoven fabrics, fiber mats, etc.) of carbon fibers. However, this requires a relatively large amount of manual labor. In the production of curved profile sections, the cutting loss is typically as high as 50%.
The only manufacturing process known to date to be more streamlined with a small percentage of waste for the production of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic profile sections is pultrusion. However, only straight profile sections with constant cross section can be manufactured with this process. Local thick zones, partly optimized fiber angle or even modifications of the shape are not possible. For practical purposes, therefore, such structural elements often have to be provided with thick zones (for stiffening and/or subsequent force transmission) by laborious post-processing.